SimplySpurfect

That's perfectly valid, to be fair. The thing with Woodgate and King is, when they're fit, they are Spurs' best centre backs by a considerable margin, which is obviously why the management have been so patient and devoted to them both. And King has been the heart of Spurs for the majority of his career. He is right now the only player to progress right through the academy and into the first team, right at the time Sol Campbell, Spurs' previous player to do that successfully, left for Arsenal. So that will always grant him extra lee-way. Funnily enough, I was actually thinking about the lack of big defensive signings not too long ago. Spurs have in recent years spent big on players in midfield and attack. Modric, Bentley, Palacios, Crouch, Pavlyuchenko, Berbatov and the re-signings of Keane and Defoe were all signed for big money. But I think Tottenham's most expensive defensive signing of all time is Bassong at £8m. That is probably something that needs to change next summer at the very latest. It's sad to say, but I'm convinced Woodgate is done. King can't go on for long with his knees the way they are. Gallas is already 33 and has converted to the discipline Spurs centre backs like to adopt by getting himself injured. Dawson, Kaboul and Bassong are all good centre backs, but each one of them looks better when partnered with a senior, more experienced leader next to them. And Kyle Walker and Steven Caulker are fantastic prospects at the moment, but they're nowhere near first team level yet. So a big name defender is certainly required in the next 12 months, in my opinion.

Out of curiosity, which Spurs forum was it? I just ask because the "open" forums such as Glory Glory and Spurs Odyssey are really poor forums full of stupidity. It's basically the majority of people that give Spurs fans a bad rep. I highly recommend, if you do genuinely have an interest in real Spurs fans, take the minute to register at Spurs Community, which is by far the best and most intelligent Spurs forum on the net. joey55 is a member on there. Coincidentally, GlastonSpur isn't. Onto Redknapp. I do think he's getting a bit of unjust criticism from people with short memories. I don't really see much he could've done to improve the performance of the team so far this season. The vast majority of changes he has made have been forced due to injuries, rather than tactical reasons. The team got outplayed against Arsenal in the cup, and he has been chastised for making so many changes to the team. But the people complaining about the changes to the game were the same people who were saying that they wanted to see the youth and fringe players compete in the Carling Cup, in the same way that Arsenal do. But once the draw was announced, they all wanted Spurs to field a full strength team, just because it's against Arsenal. He made the right decision to play the players that he did. And it's no surprise they got so outplayed, Spurs' line up featured three debutants, two young players that have played about 60 minutes worth of Spurs games between them as well as Giovani and Pavlyuchenko, who haven't made much impact thus far this season. Redknapp has done great things for this club in the 18 months he's been here. Those fans need to remember the quality of football his team played when they were actually able to field a consistent team.

Assou Ekotto isn't rubbish at all, to be fair. Yeah, he has those occassional heart stopping memory blanks when he forgets that he's actually a footballer, but on the whole he is a very good defender. The problem is, if you don't watch every Spurs game the way that I and a lot of other Spurs fans do, then the majority of the time he'll be sign on highlight shows like Match of the Day is for one of those mistakes. I've talked about this before. But against Man City, Stoke and the home Young Boys leg he was awesome. And, in fairness, very few goals have ever come from any of his slip ups really. Modric and Huddlestone played in the centre of a 4-4-2 at the end of last season and were absolutely fantastic together. And that was in matches against Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City. You don't have to have a tough tackling hussler in the centre for a midfield to be successful. Besides, whilst none of them are Roy Keane or Patrick Vieira, all of Huddlestone, Modric and Van der Vaart are always willing to get stuck into tackles. Plus, I did say they could be rotated for Palacios or Sandro as needed. Yeah, Defoe is out, so are Gomes, King and Gallas. I mentioned at the bottom of the post about when they all return to fitness, that'll be the strongest XI.

In my opinion, based on the players that are currently at the club that still have the ability to walk, that is Spurs' strongest team. You could substitute King for Bassong, Gallas for Dawson, Kaboul for Corluka, Sandro, Palacios or Jenas for Huddlestone, Kranjcar for Bale, Bentley for Lennon and Crouch for Defoe where needed without it being too detrimental to the performance. So when those players finally return from injury, we may finally see Spurs click into form again.

Yeah, Spurs haven't had much luck with injuries so far this season. Carrying on from the latter half of last season in that respect. Losing the quality of Gomes, Dawson, King, Woodgate, Gallas, Kaboul, Corluka, Bentley, Modric and Defoe in such a short space of time is enough to derail any team's performance. The other problem is that several key players last season have yet to find the same kind of form. Palacios, Corluka, Lennon and Kranjcar and in particular have been shadows of their usual selves. Although the latter two haven't had too much match practice since recovering from serious, long term injuries. So all in all, it has been a pretty grim start to the season, especially in comparison to last season's start of 5 wins in 5 and goals galore. There are a couple of shining lights though. Bale has continued his form from the second half of last season, and continues to show that he absolutely has to be played as an attacking midfielder rather than a left back. Van der Vaart has looked brilliant in every appearance so far, despite clearly being nowhere near match fit. Sandro's second half performance against Arsenal is going to give Palacios some serious concerns pretty soon, in my opinion. And Jenas is absolutely excelling in a five man midfield. One of the best players on the pitch in each outing so far, and I can't believe it myself. He may finally have found a system to realise that much talked about potential of his.

Given that they've already lost to Wigan and only scraped a drew against West Brom in the first five games, they've still got a long, hard fight on their hands to get 4th again. I guess the consolation is that even with such a lukewarm start, they're still in 4th at the moment, such as been the form of the teams around them too. The large injury list (again) hasn't really helped though. Gomes, Woodgate, Dawson, Modric, Bentley, O'Hara and Defoe all being injured with Kaboul and Gallas picking up knocks against Wolves and Van der Vaart needing to come off in every game so far. It'll be nice to see a full strength Spurs team get a run of games for a change.

Your post makes no sense. I have equated the 3 Spurs trophies to Villa's single European Cup. So why would I then equate the 3 Spurs trophies to three of Man. Utd's European Cups? I haven't done so. Glaston can i ask you one question and i'll enjoy singing it at VP to the Spurs fans? 'Have you ever won the European Cup?' Don't lie, fans at Villa Park don't sing. ;P

If that were true, people would just ignore him. As it happens, he gets about five or six replies to every post he makes here, so clearly a lot of people give a **** about everything he says.

Yet you list "Runners Up" as a team's achievement. Almost as deluded as a fan of a team trying to convince himself that they're a massive club because they won the league a few times in the 1800s. Seriously, you're the only Villa fan I've ever encountered that does this. Every other fan I've met, whilst appreciating those wins in their history, are happy to admit that they're not a massive club because of it. It's hard to decide whether it's amusing or sad, really. Anyway, I'm done "debating" with you. You're a serious broken record.

Yeah, you're right. A post count of about 0.75 posts per day quite clearly shows I have no life, doesn't it? Really, because people constantly talk about Villa in this thread. If they can talk about Villa, surely you're allowed to talk about Villa. Hello there, Mr. Pedantic. You've clearly never made an error before. I wish I could be like you. Little Tottenham, yeah I like the way you can all happily bash on another team all day and night, but you get all touchy and aggressive if someone replies about your own team. If you gonna constantly dish out abuse, you should at least be willing to get some back.

Villa have only one the title once since the Titanic sank, and that was thirty years ago. Villa are hardly heroes of the modern age either.

Goals conceded by Villa: 6 Goals conceded by Spurs: 2 Are you really trying to prove such a big point based on three games?

You forgot to mention the number of trophies Villa have won compared to Spurs and how Villa are much bigger than the "little north London club." You feeling okay, fella?

I'm sorry, but how is Delph a much better player than Dawson? Dawson's an international defender who's a first team member of a Champion's League team who last season won the club's Player of the Year award. Delph has played a handful of games for Villa and hasn't exactly had a Wilshere or Rodwell like impact in those games. Don't get me wrong, Delph will probably turn into a brilliant player in a few years, providing he recovers well from the injury. But to say he's already a much better player than Dawson is ridiculous.

Ah, the internet. It's so full of love.

Nah, he was what Spurs needed. Spurs haven't had a true goalscoring midfielder since Poyet, and he was coming towards the end of his career. You look at Fabregas at Arsenal, Gerrard at Liverpool, Lampard at Chelsea and back to Ronaldo at Man Utd and it shows how vital those goals from midfield can be. And for all the talent that Spurs currently have in midfield, they don't have too many goals in them. Kranjcar will get you a few goals, but he's a squad player as he doesn't really add too much else. So Van der Vaart was very much a signing that was needed, even if he was only signed last minute. It's just that he needs a Dzeko or Forlan type player to play off in a 4-5-1. Although I do think any of out strikers will do a decent enough job in that role until the club can identify and sign a more natural player in that position.

Assou-Ekotto for me is like Rio Ferdinand. The vast majority of the time is a very solid, capable and composed defender who doesn't need to dive into tackles to win the ball. Like Ferdinand. He was one of the best players on the pitch against Man City and Stoke and was pretty great in the home leg against Young Boys too. But he does have a tendency to make unbelievably stupid errors in dangerous places, probably as a result of being too composed, crossing over to casual. Like Ferdinand. Singling him out against Young Boys is a little harsh because the whole team was dreadful in that half. He was only brought off so that Huddlestone could come on and with Bale dropping back and Modric moving left, the team still kept some balance. Wigan, however, he was dreadful. It was almost like he was so bored that the only way to entertain himself was to see how badly he could screw up without his team actually conceding a goal. Thankfully those kinds of performances are few and far between or, yeah, he'd have to be replaced.

I think Spurs will finish fourth again too. Figured I'd just be called deluded if I just said it outright though. :/

That had crossed my mind too. The squad is a little bit light at left back, especially when you consider Spurs have about 5 right backs on the books. But Assou-Ekotto is solid enough and Bale will drop back into defence whenever Assou-Ekotto is unavailable, with one of Modric or Kranjcar moving to the left side of midfield. And Bassong and Naughton can also play left back if absolutely required. There is fairly decent cover there, so a new left back would have to come in and be better than all those listed in order for it to be a worthwhile signing, I suppose.

True, but if Spurs don't manage to finish 4th again then the means to which to pay those top players will have been lost too, which means money from elsewhere would have to go towards those high wages. Levy's not stupid, I'm sure he was well aware that last season may have been a one off, so while I'm sure he would've liked to sprinkle the squad with a world class striker, he also has to maintain profits at the club. And paying £25m+ transfer fee plus £100k p/w wages + add ons only to then finish 5th or lower and suddenly that big player that was attracted to the CL incentive suddenly becomes a financial burden on the club.

As I said, many fans were hoping for a top class signing. But, who is available at a sensible price who would geatly improve the first team without exploding the wage structure? Dzeko was a big option, Spurs were quoted £30m. Forlan was another option, Spurs quoted £20m+ for a 31 year old who either wouldn't have come or would've demanded massive wages. Fabiano was close to signing three times, apparently, but the company that part owns him continually raised the price, so that was a no go. Huntelaar was offered for £11m, but he didn't really offer anything different to what is already at the club. Cardozo was down the list somewhere, but clearly wasn't fancied. So it wasn't a case of lack of desire or lack of effort to bring in a top class player, it's lack of choice. There was also the problem of not being able to shift players no longer needed from the club. I'm sure Levy and Redknapp assumed that at least a few of Hutton, Jenas, O'Hara, Bentley, Keane and Pavlyuchenko were going to be leaving, freeing up wages and increasing the transfer budget. But offers were hard to come by this window. The important thing is that the transfer money will still be there in January and next summer, along with £40m+ of assets ready to be sold.

I don't see how Villa have "had a let off big time this window" at all, to be honest fella. Villa have lost their best player and their top class manager. Spurs have bought in an experienced central defender to challenge the allegedly "shit" Dawson. A defensive midfielder who's coming with a big reputation, having just won the South American version of the Champion's League. A truly top class attacking midfielder, who won't have been the first to have their career stagnate at the merry-go-round of Real Madrid (ironic coming from a Spurs fan, I know) As well as solid goalkeeping back up for Gomes, as Cudicini has never convinced me in a Spurs jersey. And they've bought those four players in for £16m. And just as importantly, Spurs have also tied down Redknapp, Modric and Bale to long term contracts, and with no first team squad players leaving. So Spurs are stronger than last season, whereas Villa are weaker than last season. And Spurs also finished 4th last year, Villa finished 6th. Also, I'm sure most, if not all, Spurs fans are disappointed to not have bought in a truly top class striker, but that's easier said than done, especially when you're only in your debut Champion's League season. Spurs have a squad more than capable of challenging the top four again this year. If they succeed, I'd expect a high calibre striker to be on his way. Until then though, the current strikers are decent enough. They just need to put their goalscoring boots back on. And just as import

And most likely considerably increased his chances of playing in the Champion's League and winning major trophies, to be fair. :/ Of course that is true. However, the thing that pisses me off about the little word removed is when he went public in November, stating that "I love playing for Villa. I'm finally settled here as I've been moved around so far in my career. I want to play here for years to come". That's pretty much the exact same situation Spurs had with Keane after winning the Carling Cup. He felt it was his home and wanted to spend the rest of his career with the club. Six months later he was desperate to move too. Players are only loyal to their clubs until a better offer comes along, it seems.

And most likely considerably increased his chances of playing in the Champion's League and winning major trophies, to be fair. :/

That's if they're successful, though. The difference between Abramovich's Chelsea and Sheikh Mabooty's City is that Chelsea were already one of the top six teams in the league and just needed the extra push from 5th-6th to 1st-2nd. Man City were as mid table as mid table could get. They're also competing in a much, much more competitive league now. Excluding themselves, there are currently seven other very, very good teams in the league at the moment, all of whom believe they're a good bet for finishing in the top four. They're going to have to have an almost flawless season this year in order to break into the top four, whilst competing in three other competitions. And they're going to have to keep faith with Mancini this season, as they won't be able to remove him if the results aren't good enough, then expect to bring in another new manager mid-season and expect instant success from the new man. Anyway, my point is that it's not set in stone that they'll replicate the success of Chelsea. You have to remember that even with all that money they spent, it still took the best manager on the planet to win the league for them.